Three’s the Charm

by P.A. Friday

$4.99

James, Laurie, and Al are settling into a surprisingly easy life as a triad. Finally, things seem to be going well for them. But when an unscrupulous journalist takes advantage of Al’s blossoming film career and the men’s unusual relationship to write an exposé article, cracks begin to show. Can the three survive with their love, their careers, and even their sanity intact?

Excerpt

Chapter One

Al

The text was brief and to the point.

I hope you’re behaving yourself. L.

Al glared at his phone, as if it were his boyfriend Laurie himself. Up until that point, he’d been fairly successful at forgetting that he’d been driven to the point of madness the night before by his lovers, who had made him beg and then refused to allow him the satisfaction he was craving. Okay, that ‘forgetting’ bit wasn’t entirely true. He’d managed to deal with the fact that he was absolutely fucking desperate for a wank, or to get off in some form or other. And then bloody Laurie sent that, just reminding him. Rubbing it in.

Al wanted to rub one off, not have things rubbed in. But Laurie, who was not ‘just’ a boyfriend but—when they both chose—his Dominant, had ordered him not to. To wait for this evening. Scowling so hard at his phone that his boss, Fenella, asked him what the matter was (“Nothing”), he sent a one-word reply.

Yes.

There was silence for an hour. Laurie was probably giving a lecture at the university about filmography or something. Probably doing it well, too—Al had been to a couple of Laurie’s lectures in the past, and he was a good speaker, and knowledgeable. Al should know, as well: he was a prominent short film-maker on a minor level, though it was not a career which allowed him to devote himself to it full-time. Hence the job in the wine shop. During the text silence from his boyfriend, therefore, Al talked to various people about wine, advising them on which bottle might suit them best, and managed to ignore the worst of his frustration. Then the phone buzzed again.

Are you hard? L.

Al seethed. Well, if he hadn’t been before, he was now. He was bloody hard and fucking desperate. Laurie knew it—he knew precisely what he was doing, damn him. Al was tempted not to answer, to just leave Laurie hanging. But on the other hand, Laurie would be in charge once he got home. Provoking him to further teasing was a seriously bad plan. Hating his boyfriend, he sent the same one-word answer.

Yes.

The ‘fuck you’ wasn’t explicitly written afterwards, but Al was pretty sure Laurie would get that too. Ruffled, he texted James. James, his other boyfriend. Laurie’s boyfriend, too.

Your boyfriend is a fucking sadist.

Al smiled apologetically at Fen, who was looking unimpressed by the amount of texting going on in work time.

“There’s no one needing serving at the moment,” he offered.

She snorted and shook her head. “I suppose you’re texting your many partners,” she said, trying to sound grumpy but not quite managing it.

As far as Fen was concerned—and it was fairly close to the truth—Al slept with pretty much anyone who offered. He certainly had sex with a lot of people, but not only did he live with James and Laurie, he was also in love with them, which made rather a lot of difference. And, he admitted grumpily, the sex was best with them. Partly because Laurie was the best Dom Al had ever come across, and the only one he’d thoroughly trust with the submissive part of himself; and partly because…well, (a) they were both bloody marvellous in bed, and (b) all right, yes, because he was in love with them and it turned out that that did make a difference, just as everyone claimed. Damn them all.

His phone buzzed again.

Needing a wank? J.

Al had the distinct temptation to smash his phone hard against the counter. James was supposed to be showing a bit of sympathy. Which that was not.

Fuck off.

He got another hour, that time. An hour in which to calm down and to think about wine, and talk sensibly to a customer about which white wine might be the optimal choice to go with a nice fish dinner (“What sort of fish?” “Dead,” said the customer, helpfully.)

It was Laurie, again, when the text came.

You’re going to have to beg. L.

Al hated how much that turned him on. How much he wanted to be on his knees to Laurie, pleading to be allowed to come. Hated the visions which were flooding his brain after reading it. Fen was giving him a peculiar look, and he excused himself to the toilet. Not to touch—he knew better than that—but to try to compose himself a bit. He could hardly serve customers with a raging hard-on, and at the moment all he could think about was sex. Fuck. Bloody, fucking Laurie. Fuck. Al pushed a hand firmly (painfully firmly) between his black jeans-clad legs, squeezed his eyes shut, and tried to think about other things. Awful things. Running out of money at the end of the month. Stepping in a deep puddle and getting a trainerful of water. Anything. Anything but the thought of Laurie making him beg. Jesus. Eventually, he knew he’d have to come out or face Fen’s wrath.

“Sorry,” he said apologetically. “Not feeling my best.”

“Hmm.” Fen’s lack of belief would have been mortifying at any other time, but at the moment, Al was too busy trying to deal with his rebellious cock.

You’re hot on your knees. J.

Al hadn’t even heard that text come in. He’d picked up the phone to check the time—to see how long it was before he could go home and persuade his boyfriends (his absolute bastard boyfriends) to allow him to get off. He’d not replied to Laurie’s last text—potentially dangerous in itself, but he was damned if he was going to plead over his phone. Bad enough that he knew bloody well he’d break down and do it in person the first second he saw Laurie; he was not going to humiliate himself in writing as well. And now James, too. James, who knew him too damn well, and knew what a text like that would do.

Thought I told you to fuck off, he wrote.

The response was quick; presumably James was home from work.

Sorry. Thought you asked me to fuck you. Or was that last night? J.

It wasn’t murder if your boyfriends had asked for it, was it? Al had a sudden memory of the previous evening, where he had indeed done as James had suggested. And James had acted like he was going to give in, and then not done so. Fucking tease.

Unexpectedly, she looked sympathetic. “You can head home early if you like?”

Oh, bloody hell, that was worst of all. Laurie and James would rip the piss out of him something chronic if they knew about this. Fen offering to send him home early because he was so ‘unwell’. He’d never live down the fact that he’d been so desperate for them that he hadn’t been able to finish a day’s work.

“Okay. Let me know if you need to leave, though, Al. Honestly, you don’t have to suffer.”

Tell that to my boyfriends, Al thought bitterly. Apparently they delighted in making him suffer.

“Thanks,” he said curtly.

Thankfully, they left him alone for his last hour at work. Al was beyond relieved: today had been more of an ordeal than he’d ever had at the wine shop. It wasn’t taxing work, and usually he enjoyed the banter with customers; but today, with the constant erection pushing at his trousers, distracting his attention, making him need things he couldn’t have…it had been horrendous. He was halfway out of the door before the final text came.

Come in, take off your clothes, and kneel by the sofa. L.

Laurie had timed it deliberately for the moment he left work. It left a strangely warm feeling in Al’s chest that Laurie knew to the minute when he would be leaving the shop; he was angry with himself for getting so much pleasure from that thought, but at the same time it was very hot. The texts, he realised, showed that he’d been on Laurie and James’s minds as much as they’d been on his. They wanted him. His cock throbbed hard at the thought.

When he got to the flat, there was no one in the sitting room. Obeying his instructions, he folded his clothes up and knelt naked by the empty sofa. Where were they? What were they doing? As Al got used to the sounds of the house, he realised that Laurie and James were in the kitchen. He could hear voices, and then the sloppy sounds of kisses. The noises got closer, and he glanced up to see that they were in the doorway between the sitting room and the kitchen, arms around each other, frotting up against one another as they kissed passionately. God, they were hot like that. And, Al realised, with frustrated fury, they knew he thought so. This was a show put on entirely for him…well, maybe not ‘entirely’—James and Laurie were shamelessly obsessed with each other at any time—but the fact that they were simulating sex somewhere he could see them and not be part of it… They were deliberately teasing him, even more than they’d been doing all day. A frustrated growl burst from his lips.

James looked over, the faintest smile tracing his lips.

“Al’s home,” he told Laurie, as if it were a surprise.

“Mm-hm?” Laurie sounded supremely uninterested, going back to touching and snogging James as if there was nothing more he wanted from life.

And Al was going to bloody die if he didn’t get any attention soon. His lovers were stripping each other’s clothes off, kissing any part of each other which they could reach as they did so. James’s mouth on Laurie’s nipple, Laurie’s head thrown back in pleasure, a hand behind James’s head, encouraging him. James’s hands busy on Laurie’s trousers as he sucked, pushing them down, exposing Laurie’s hard, heavy, large cock. They were distracted enough that they wouldn’t notice if Al just had a quick touch. He couldn’t bear it any longer. His left arm slid round from its required position behind him to take himself in hand, and he gave the tiniest hiss of relief at the sensation of fingers against his erection. Too quiet for anyone else to hear, you would have thought. Except that Laurie, with some psychic instinct, was suddenly gazing down at Al, a feral expression on his face.

“Oh, no, Al,” he said, his voice dark and measured, his hand slipping from James’s head. “That won’t do at all. Did yesterday teach you nothing about obedience?”

James turned to look at him too, and Al swore under his breath. He was so, so fucked now.

“Please,” he said pathetically, the word slipping out before he could prevent it. “God, please, Laurie. Please, Sir.” He could hear the quiver in his voice and, clearly, so could Laurie.

Laurie’s expression softened immediately. “Too much for you?” he asked, more gently. “You can just say your name, you know.”

Al’s name—his full name, Alistair—was his safeword. It was so very like Laurie to make sure he was reminded that he could use it at any time. But Al didn’t want to—at least, he didn’t think so. It was difficult to be certain of anything, feeling the way he did.

“No…yes… I don’t know.” Through a supreme effort of will, Al forced himself to put his hand back behind his back, clasping it firmly in his right. He’d got this damn close, got through the entire day and night. He couldn’t lose it now. “I just…” A breath trembled out. “No, Sir,” he managed.

“Well done,” Laurie praised, lovingly.

He stepped out of his trousers and pants, coming over to sit on the sofa close to Al. So close. Al could feel the heat from Laurie’s body, smell his arousal, and oh, bloody hell… Al squeezed his eyes closed and dug the fingers of one hand into the other. But frustratingly, his nails were chewed down to stubs, so there was no pinch of pain to distract him from his desire.

“Please. I just need—” Al wasn’t sure what he needed, except for Laurie to let him come. Preferably to touch him, but at least let him touch himself. Let him have something before he died of sexual frustration.

“If I touch you, will you come?” Laurie asked.

James walked over to stand behind Al, placing warm hands on his shoulders and massaging them. The contact was both too much and not enough. It was James, and oh god, Al wanted James as much as he wanted Laurie. He made a little noise of frustration, leaning back into James’s grasp.

“Yes,” he whispered to Laurie, head bowed, embarrassed about his lack of control. “Probably, Sir.”

Unexpectedly, Laurie leaned forward at this and touched his fingertips to Al’s erection. It was electrifying; as if all the nerves in Al’s body had flashed at once. Against his will, he cried out loudly, unable to stop himself from coming immediately, just at this tiniest of touches. His breath tore through his lungs, and he felt the frustratingly easy tears come to his eyes as his whole body trembled.

When he came back to himself, he realised he was speaking, crying out, “Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god,” over and over. He struggled to control his breathing, humiliated by his easy surrender and the fact that he had been unable to last more than that brief second. “I’m sorry,” he said, as soon as he could, his head falling to Laurie’s knee. “I’m sorry.”

Laurie laughed, not unkindly, and stroked his hair, which had flopped around Al’s face as he bent forward. “You don’t think we’ve finished with you yet, do you, little slut? We’ve hardly more than begun.”

“I… Oh god,” Al said again.

“I’ve told you before,” James said from behind him, “I’m good, but I’m not god.” He laughed, low in his throat. “Neither is Laurie—quite.”

He pulled Al easily onto his lap, leaning back and holding him close. James came to sit next to them, putting one arm around each of them and pulling them both into a three-way hug. And Al felt loved, and looked after, and reassured beyond description. He made a small noise of contentment.

“I meant it, though,” Laurie admonished, although his voice was fond. “I haven’t finished with you, Al. Not by a long way. Neither James nor I have come yet tonight, which you are going to do something about in due course, and I expect you to come at least twice more before I’m done.”

Al leaned in against Laurie’s broad chest, his eyes closed. The fuzzy feeling engendered by orgasm and subspace combined, especially after the warm reassurance of his lovers, meant that it was hard for him to take in anything further which was said to him. He felt like he could rest here forever, safe and happy.

“He will.” The warmth was still there in Laurie’s voice, but there was a slight edge of steel which pierced the edges of Al’s consciousness.

“Yes, Sir,” he said dozily, not really knowing what he was agreeing to; just willing to agree to anything Laurie told him.

“I was saying…” James said, laughingly.

Laurie made a noise of amusement in his chest which rumbled through Al’s body. “He’s allowed a moment. Don’t worry. He’ll be doing just as he’s told in a minute, won’t you, Al?”

Al was beginning to wake up to the fact that his lovers hadn’t finished with him. Now that he’d had a few moments of recovery, he was getting some brain function returned to him.

“Yes, Sir. Anything,” he said with a bit more attention.

“Good boy. See, James was massaging your shoulders just now, and I don’t think that’s the right way around. I think you need to be looking after James, don’t you? Massaging him. Making him feel good. And whilst you’re doing it, you can have a little think. Because James hasn’t come yet, and maybe you can consider how you want to make him come; so after you’ve massaged him and looked after him a bit, you can beg for his cock the way you want it. You can rub his shoulders and decide whether you want his cock in your mouth or your arse, whether you want to touch him or just have him wank all over you; and then Jamie can make a decision on how good you’ve been and whether you get what you want or not. How does that sound, hmm?”

“Don’t thank me yet. See how well the slut can do and then decide if he’s earned his reward.” Laurie stood up, hoisting Al gently to his feet. There was no denying that Laurie’s easy strength was one hell of a turn-on. “Bedroom, I think. Give you some space to lie down. I’ve got some massage oil somewhere, too.”

It was no hardship to Al to massage a naked James’s shoulders. He had a beautiful, muscular back, and Al sat astride him, smoothing oil into muscles and listening to the little noises of pain and pleasure James made when Al hit the right spots. His hands glided over the surface of James’s warm skin, pressing firmly into knots where he found them. Laurie lay beside James, stroking his head and occasionally kissing him, as if there were moments when he just couldn’t bear to keep from snogging his boyfriend. He spent most of the time, however, watching Al with stern but appreciative eyes as Al worked on James. And there was a heat in that gaze which sent tiny tremors through Al. It promised… It promised a lot, and all of it good.

Taking a quick look at Laurie from under his lashes, Al began to work his way further down James’s back, sitting on James’s arse and rocking gently as he did so. Already, the sensation of having his hands all over James’s body was beginning to get Al in the mood for something more; and Laurie’s hint about making him beg for James’s cock was sending little tremors of anticipation through him. James really did have a beautiful cock. It was by no means as large as Laurie’s—few people’s, Al thought with happy appreciation, were—but it was long with a slight curve to it, and oh god, Al loved it. He adored sucking it, touching it, having James pound it into his arse. He realised he’d given a little sigh of pleasure at the thoughts going through his mind, which was a little embarrassing; getting off just on the very idea of James was perhaps a bit excessive. But then, he’d had a day of thinking of little else except for his boyfriends’ many attributes and the wonderful ways they could use them. It was hardly his fault if they insisted on trying to drive him mad.

“Desperate again already? You really are such a cockslut, aren’t you?” Laurie said, his voice a caress.

Al said the one thing he knew Laurie would understand. “James,” he murmured. Laurie was as mad for James as Al was—more so, if that were possible.

Laurie laughed. “Well, yes,” he acknowledged. He kissed James again. “So, gorgeous James, what do you think? Has he done enough to earn his reward?”

Al moved further down still, now using his hands to massage James’s arse with long, smooth movements as he straddled his thighs. James gave a little moan.

“If he goes on doing things like that, I’m having him whether he wants me or not,” he said.

Laurie laughed again. “I really don’t think that’s in doubt.” His tone lowered. “I’d have you myself, if he hadn’t done enough,” he said, stroking a possessive hand down James’s back and tucking it under his hip. “So bloody hot, laid out there like this, Jamie.”

“I’m so bloody hard,” James retorted.

Laurie raised an eyebrow at Al. “Well, little one, you’ve got some begging to do, haven’t you?” He smirked. “That is, if you want James. I’m quite happy to see to my boyfriend’s needs myself if you’re not prepared to beg for it.”

Half despite himself, Al made a little whining noise in his throat.

“No? You don’t want me to do it for you?” Laurie asked. “On your knees, then.”

Willingly, Al slid off the bed and onto his knees by the side of it, looking up pleadingly at James.

“Please, Jamie,” he asked.

“What do you want?” James rolled onto his side, incidentally giving Al an extremely pleasurable view of his definitely hard cock, and smiled at Al.

“See what you do to people, Jamie?” Laurie said, his arms slipping around his lover from behind.

“The thing is, though,” James said seriously to Al, “I have this amazing, hot boyfriend. And I’m not sure I’m willing to do anything that he’s left out of. So we need to consider what you can possibly do for us both.”

And Al’s cock had gone from ‘definitely interested in more’ to ‘really really want more right now’ in about three seconds. If he’d do anything for James, and anything for Laurie…he’d do absolutely bloody everything for both of them together.

“Oh, please,” he said fervently. “God, please, anything.”

He sensed, rather than saw, the change of expression on Laurie’s face at this; a tenderness and…could it really be surprise? Did Laurie seriously not know how much Al wanted him? Well, if he hadn’t before, he certainly must now. Al was hardly being subtle. Even if his mouth hadn’t given him away, his body would have done. Though Al’s big mouth usually gave everything away, he thought ruefully. He never had been any good at shutting up, even at the best of times. Which this was.

It definitely was.

At least, as long as…

“Please, Sir,” he added, raising his eyes to look at Laurie.

Laurie was capable of refusing him, even if he wanted him (or at least wanted James), if he thought that it was a lesson Al needed to learn. Al, however, felt that he had learned enough lessons about restraint for a while. He just wanted his lovers—his fucking amazing, sensual, sexual lovers. He tried to ignore the pulling, throbbing sensation in his groin as he thought about them. But there was silence from the bed, and Al was back to the place where he needed… He needed…

“Please, oh please,” he found himself saying, resting his head against the edge of the bed. “James, god, I need…”

“You need to be fucked,” James said, “and I’m intending to do it. But I know how good you are with your mouth around a cock, and I know how much you want Laurie. You do want to suck him off, don’t you?”

“Yes, James,” Al whispered. James wasn’t a natural Dominant, not like Laurie. But it seemed he could have his moments, if only on grounds of fairness. It was just like James to be considering someone else’s satisfaction at a moment when his own was supposed to be the subject at hand. It sent a sweet sense of warmth through Al.

“Why don’t you get back on the bed, then?” James said; and it was a suggestion, not the order it would have been from Laurie. Nonetheless, it was one Al was very willing to comply with. “And you’d probably better ask Laurie nicely, if you want to get anywhere with him.”

Al scrambled back onto the bed and onto his knees, putting his hands behind his back in his expected submissive posture, and dipping his head so that he was looking at the mattress. He could see his own cock, hard and bobbing between his legs as if it were doing some pleading of its own.

“Yes, Sir,” Al said, willing to agree to anything if it got him what he wanted.

“Look at me,” Laurie ordered, and Al obediently met his eyes. “You’ve already come all over yourself once. Think of the state of yourself, little slut, your come all up your belly and down your legs just because I touched you once—just because I put my fingers against your cock.”

Al blushed. He was still a little humiliated about the immediacy of his reaction to Laurie’s touch. “Yes, Sir,” he mumbled, desperately wanting to look away from Laurie’s gaze, but not daring to break the connection without permission.

“That’s right. Look me in the eyes and know exactly what you are. And then I want to hear you say it,” Laurie said ruthlessly.

“Sir?”

James had put a hand round Al’s leg and was stroking his cock. It felt so good. Al wanted to press into the gentle grasp.

“I want to hear you admit that you’re a shameless cockslut, just wanting to be filled and fucked,” Laurie murmured, his voice warm and low. “I’m going to start to come in your mouth, and then I’m going to pull out and come all over you, make you look even more like the filthy slut you are. And you want that. You want to be covered in come. You want to feel Jamie’s come sliding out of your arse as you drip with mine, don’t you?”

“Yes, Sir.” Oh god, yes.

“What are you, Al?”

James’s hand was working faster on his cock, and Al could feel the press of James’s erection against his hip. He was frightened that he’d moan the moment he opened his lips again, but Laurie was merciless, and Al knew he’d get nothing more out of Laurie or James until he answered.

“I’m—oh god—a cockslut, Sir.”

“What?”

“Please—ohhh.” The moan would out, with James rocking against him as his hand continued to move. Al could barely concentrate on anything, but Laurie wouldn’t let him look away, wouldn’t let him off the hook. He tried again, knowing he was begging, knowing that Laurie making him say this was making him harder than ever. “I’m a cockslut, I’m desperate for James to fuck me,” Al said urgently. “Please, please, Jamie. Sir, I want to suck your cock. I want you in my mouth. Please. Oh god…”

Trying to hold on to the merest semblance of control was nearly impossible. There were tears in his eyes, and he didn’t dare move his hands to dash them away. But it seemed that tonight, at least, he had done enough to earn his reward.

“God, you’re hot,” James muttered, taking his hand off Al’s cock in order to flick open the lube and slather it onto himself. Al tried not to whine at the absence of James’s touch.

He shifted position to give Al access, and Al leaned forward, presenting his arse to James as he did so, his legs sliding apart. God, he wanted to be filled right now. His mouth closed around Laurie and he gave a little groan of thankfulness at the feeling, the taste. He loved the way Laurie tasted. James pressed against his arse, carefully opening him with his fingers before pushing his cock a little way inside. He paused, presumably waiting for Al to be ready for more, but Al was so very ready. Moaning, he pushed back against James, who sheathed himself inside his lover. And Al was being fucked at both ends, Laurie gently pushing into his mouth, whilst James just held himself deep inside Al for a few seconds. Al wasn’t even being touched, but he was so damn horny, rocking back and forth in an attempt to get James to start moving. He slid his mouth off Laurie’s cock, kissing his way up his boyfriend’s erection and back down, before taking the shaft in one hand whilst his mouth and tongue worked over the head.

“Love you like this, Al,” James said, thrusting into him.

Al could hear the slap of James’s flesh against his own, taste Laurie’s precome coating his tongue as he moaned again with the sensation. There was a musky, masculine smell of arousal which was turning Al’s brain fuzzy with desire. Laurie’s hand was on the back of his head, not forcing him forward but encouraging him to take more into his mouth, which Al was oh so willing to do. James was needier than usual, fucking him hard from the start, and it was as if Laurie was infected by James’s eagerness. He was breathing heavily as Al sucked him, tilting his hips towards Al. Al couldn’t speak with his mouth so thoroughly filled, but he knew he was making little pleading noises as he took his lovers’ cocks inside him. James reached round to put his hand back on Al’s erection, and Al whimpered, rutting back onto James’s cock and forward into his hand, as his mouth still worked busily on Laurie. Laurie, he knew, was watching James take him hard; when Al’s eyes flicked up, he could see the arousal in Laurie’s face. Laurie had no desire to be fucked himself, but he loved watching James fuck Al—seeing his lover give out what he took from Laurie so often.

“James,” Laurie said quietly, even though it was Al whose mouth was around his cock, and he was coming.

Al felt the first ejaculate hit his mouth, but then, as he’d promised, Laurie pulled out, painting Al’s face and neck and chest with warm, white threads of come. Al could feel it sliding over his skin—dirty and wrong and so fucking hot. His hands grasped helplessly at Laurie’s legs as he cried out loudly and came in turn.

“Beautiful slut,” Laurie said warmly, sliding down and kissing Al even as he rode out his orgasm.

James moved with longer strokes now, holding Al’s hips hard and withdrawing almost completely before thrusting back in with purpose. Al was only being kept up by the force of Laurie’s grip under his arms, of James’s on his hips. He felt boneless, just there to be used by James…and he loved it. Laurie had once teasingly asked him if he wanted to be James’s fucktoy, and just now Al felt like that was precisely what he was. Nothing but what James made him.

“James, Jamie, please,” he heard himself pleading.

“Yes. Fuck.”

James gave a long groan and at last reached his own completion, driving into Al one last time and staying there, shuddering, as his orgasm took him. James’s grip loosened on Al’s hips, and the two of them slid to the bed, James lying heavily across Al’s legs and back. Laurie lowered Al’s front so that his head was resting on Laurie’s shoulder, the three of them a mass of bodies with Al sandwiched between his two lovers.

“There, now,” Laurie said, a teasing note in his voice as he wrapped his arms all the way around Al and rested them on James’s shoulders. “That’s much better, isn’t it?”

“Yes, Sir,” Al said instinctively, not even sure whether Laurie was speaking to him or not.

Laurie ruffled his hair. “It’s okay, baby. Just lie there.”

Al snuggled into the side of Laurie. When he was submissive, he needed to be close to his boyfriends after sex. It took him a while to recover his equanimity, and until he did, he was in need of physical reassurance in a way which bore no resemblance to his everyday self. But both partners knew it and were always careful to look after him at such times. Al sometimes wondered, later, where the confident version of himself had gone—and yet, he knew it took much more confidence, both in himself and in his partners, to be able to let go to that extent. To give absolutely everything of himself to his lovers and trust them to take care of him. He breathed in Laurie’s scent and relished the weight of James’s body across his own, grounding him. Bringing him back.

Laurie kept his word, however, and Al came once more before the evening was out, this time with Laurie’s mouth around his cock, James’s mouth against his own. By the time he went to sleep that evening, Al had to admit that he was perhaps more sexually satisfied than he’d ever been in his life, and that maybe, although he still maintained that his boyfriends were evil sexual sadists for making him wait, just maybe they might have been on to something. God, he felt good. Al stretched heavy limbs, knowing he would be able to feel the after-effects in the morning. He revelled in the thought, and fell asleep listening to the quiet sounds of Laurie’s breathing beside him whilst the soft notes of James’s guitar filtered through the door from the sitting room. He was happy.